Old Stanmore Church

The Church of St John the Evangelist in Great Stanmore dates to 1632 and is attributed to Nicholas Stone. It is constructed of red brick with Portland stone dressings. The building comprises a rectangular plan with a west tower.

The three-stage tower features diagonal buttresses, an arched doorway with blocked quoins, arched window openings (paired at the upper stage) with stone surrounds, and a stair tower to the north-east corner; it was later reinforced with massive brick buttresses. Parts of the side walls remain, featuring tall framed and rectangular window openings, some of which are blocked or altered, with wooden mullions and transoms. A single-storey, two-stage brick mortuary chapel is attached to the north side, displaying blind arched panels and a stepped dentil cornice. A door case with a stone surround is present on the south side, near the east end; an arched door with rusticated jambs is at the west end of the south side. A moulded stone string-course survives partially, and the battlemented parapet and most of the eastern gable have been removed. The east end includes a Venetian window of stone below a moulded string course, with brick angle quoins.

Inside the tower, numerous memorials and ledger slabs were retained. A Gothic Hollond tomb of 1867, constructed from red sandstone and marble, stands in the centre of the former nave, alongside other Victorian graves. The interior was paved over with stone flags in 1991-2.

The church was consecrated in 1632 by Archbishop William Laud (then Bishop of London) and replaced an earlier medieval building, financed by the City merchant adventurer Sir John Wolstenholme. Nicholas Stone, Master Mason to Charles I, was paid for a font and a porch. The vault contains the coffin of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Prime Minister in 1852-55. The church was superseded by the nearby 1849 church and unroofed at that time.

The ruin is picturesque and of architectural importance as an example of Caroline classicism, demonstrating the influence of Inigo Jones. Buildings of this period are relatively rare.